Mandalay (UCAN): A Buddhist group in Myanmar’s religiously divided Rakhine state in the Union of Myanmar has failed in its bid to pressure local authorities to expel Muslims from Sittwe.

Soe Naing, from the Rakhine National Network, a civil society organisation based in Sittwe, said that a petition with around 400 signatures was sent to the state’s chief minister in mid-May demanding that Muslims be expelled from the city’s Aung Mingalar quarter.

Mandalay (UCAN): The Muslim minority in Rakhine, Myanmar, identify as themselves as Rohingya, a term that the country’s new civilian government, just like the previous military regime, refuses to acknowledge.

The government instead insists on referring to the Rohingyas as Bengalis, implying that they are, instead, illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh. This is despite the fact that the Rohingya have lived in Myanmar for decades.